The Fire Within
by diggerboy4
Summary: Sometimes life deals you a bad hand. Life is going great till someone throws a wrench in the gears. True measure is how you deal with it and move on to a higher level. Drake knows this better than anyone, having your parents killed right in front of you does that to a guy. (AU OC goblet of fire.) Fleur/OC Daphne/Harry
1. Chapter 2 Life hits a wall

Fire...

The bringer of destruction, the bringer of light. It burns with passion and terror. A wild beast untamed and rash. It consumes with unyielding hunger, reducing everything to ash, dust and memories.

The internal fire of the soul is no different. It drives us, guides and fuels us. Mixed it with righteous anger and you have a concoction of passion and rage.

Drake knew this feeling all too well...

A blood curling scream pierced the night mixed together with the sound of crazed laughter.

Laying on his living room floor, Drake could taste blood in his mouth mixed with the fallen tears streaming down his face. Dragging himself across the floor to the fallen form next to him, he searched for any indicators of life in his father. The only thing that greeted him was empty lifeless blue eyes of his father and a slowing increasing blood puddle trickling out underneath him. The eyes stared up to the ceiling, pupils dilated and lacking any hint of warmth. Drake flinched as the screams continued to resonate inside the manor. He looked up to see his mother and aunt writhing in pain as flashes of red light danced off the walls. With sound of another horsed "Crucio", three figures looming over the bodies like shadows beginning laughing with the crazed mindset of madmen. The light of the wooden furniture burning around them casting light onto their silver masks.

"Please.."his aunt croaked out in a weak voice as she continued to spasm in pain,

The figure closest to Drake chucked to himself.

"Death is given to all those who continue to defy the purebloods" he gleefully replied

With the flash of green, the screams of his aunt and mother were silenced as they joined his father in the blissful embrace of death.

Drake could do nothing but watch with tears in his eyes as his family was ripped apart before his very eyes. His mind was unable to comprehend and fathom what had just occurred. How quickly what he held dear could be taken away.

As his mind tried to catch up, he heard the figures beginning to converse between themselves.

"Stake the bodies to the oak tree out front and then burn the manor. Leave this as an example to all those blood traitors and mudbloods that the we will continue what our lord started" spat out the death eater closest to Drake

"Right away Sir" said the other two in unison.

"I'II take care of this bastard child on the floor"

As Drake began to comprehend those words, he felt something break inside of him.

Anger, anger of likes he never had felt before began to burn inside of him. Like match being tossed into gas tank, it coursed through his veins like blood.

Anger about helplessness of his situation.

Anger about death of his beloved parents

Anger about towards the men standing not but 3 feet away from him.

As he was laying on the floor, Drake felt his magic increasing, mixing with his anger. Almost as in slow motion, the figures turned towards his direction. The leading death eater began to raise his wand, the tip of it taking on a dull green color. In that moment, Drake felt the flames of his angry overflow his body. With a sudden increase in temperature, his anger purged out his body and escaped into the open air surrounding him.

WOOSH!

He felt his body heat up as the air around him was superheated in an instant. Drake closed his eyes as the bright light became unbearable to witness. The energy leave his body in an instant with a fiery explosion. With almost all the energy in his body released, the sweet embrace of unconsciousness began to call to him, too strong to fight. The last he saw people the drooping of his eyelids was the smothering bodies of his would be killers, flesh melting off and dripping away. He closed his eyes and knew no more.

Drake suddenly opened his eyes, his breath coming in heavily in short bursts. He shot straight up in bed and began scanning the room. After seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he laid back down on his back staring up at the ceiling

"Another one" he thought to himself, exhaling the breath he didn't realize he was holding.

At age 16, he was still having nightmares of the fateful day. The day his life changed in the blink of an still reliving his dream in his mind, Drake heard a crisp popping sound resonate in his room.

"Master be best getting up now" he hear a squeaky little voice say.

"Ahh Tippy" groaned drake "yea I am getting up" he said as he shoved a pillow into his face

"Master needs to get up and go to Diagon alley" replied the house elf in the sternest face the little creature could make, unfortunately, not as effective with her size.

Drake threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up just as Tippy popped out of the room. He began to shuffled himself over the bathroom connected to his room to clean off the residue sweat off his body. As he was walking over, he took a glance around the room. It was a medium sized room, not too large as one would expect from a pureblood but nothing near of a pauper. It was was painted grey with posters spread randomly over the walls. A small shelf stood in the corner full to the brim with different books of size and shape. A desk sat snugly next to it littered with rolls of parchment and haphazardly tossed pens, remnants of his efforts to complete his summer assignments for his 6th year. Letters intermingled with the assignments of correspondences with friends. The room was a blend of muggle technology and wizard engineering.

Drake took a long, hot shower to help himself relax. He then dried himself off, changed into muggle jeans and a sliver t-shirt, headed out his room and down the stairs to the kitchen. The sound of sizzling bacon and the sight of a plate of freshly scrambled eggs met his senses. Tippy was standing over the stove on a stool with a chef hat and apron on frying bacon. Drake sat down at the small table adjacent to the kitchen. As he sat down, Tippy snapped her fingers and with a puff of smoke, a plate of eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, and potatoes appeared in front of Drake. As he was eating, he reminisced upon his life up to this point. At age 6, his parents had been killed by death eaters and to the general population, himself as well. Tippy had popped into the manor after the wards the death eaters had placed fell with their deaths. Tippy was able to save the young master but the manor didn't fare as well. The fire consumed the manor destroying everything and rendering it to ash and charcoal. Luckily for Drake, his family owned a second, smaller house in London which provided a safe haven for the time being.With death eaters still on the prow, Tippy and other house elves feared for the young masters life. Even with the death of the Dark lord 3 years beforehand, chaos still reigned over England with numerous families homeless, parentless, and childless. The Aurors spread thin as many were killed in the last war, refusing to use lethal force, resulting in their numbers being greatly diminished compared to the death eaters. With every new batch of recruits though, their numbers were steadily growing.

With all these thing combined, the house elves of Ainsworth manor decided to keep the young master at the house to prevent him from being taken into a orphanage or being finished off by the remaining few death eaters. Little did they know, everyone already thought the Ainsworth family to be extinct as his family was the last of the line.

Growing up, Drake didn't have that bad childhood after that day. The house elves provided for everything he would possibly need, acting as surrogate parents to help fill the void left in his life. While this turned out working pretty well from him, he never forgot that day when his life went to shit.

Drake finished up breakfast and his musings, placing the dish in the soapy water in the sink and headed over to the floo in the living room.

"I'll probably be gone all day so no need to make lunch" Drake said over his shoulder to Tippy who had started cleaning the dishes.

"Have a good day master Drake" squeaked the house elf.

Drake stood in the fireplace and with a shout of "Diagon Alley!" he was off.


	2. Chapter 3 Diagon Alley(really chapter 2)

Chapter 2

Diagon Alley

With a flash of green flames whipping around his body, Drake stepped out of one the Diagon Alley Floo Connection Fireplaces. He bent down, dusted the remaining soot of his clothes, and was immediately hit with the sights and sounds of the familiar wizarding alley. He took in a deep breath of air, inhaling all the familiar smells. People bustled back forth traveling from shop to shop. Families on day trips buying new things for their youngsters heading back to school in the fall, couples on dates, and every other sort of wizard. Drake smiled to himself as he saw a couple of young children giggling happily and chasing after a firework whizzing along in random directions.

"Look its Viktor Krum!"

Drake turned to see a crowd of young children gathering around the Quality Quidditch Supply store. With lights of adoration gleaming in their eyes, they watched an animated manakin of Krum waving to them while riding on top of a stationary Firebolt broom.

"He's the best seeker in the world!"

"I wanna be just like him!"

Drake smiled again and started walking over the Apothecary shop which just so happened to be right next to the Quidditch shop. He reached for the handle and opened the front door. Dried plants lay hanging from the ceiling, pots of random ingredients sat evenly stacked and labeled along shelves. Bigger pots sat along the walls full to the brim with different odds and ends. The crip sound of a knife hitting a cutting board met his ears as well as low murmuring of other customers. He walked up to counter and greeted the man chopping away at what looked like to Drake to be a root of some kind.

"How ya doin Bailey" said Drake in a friendly tone

The man presumably to be Bailey stopped his cutting and stab the knife point first in wooden board.

"Ahhh Drake you little bugger, how can I help ya" he replied with a laugh and simile

"Need some ingredients for my 6th year potions said Drake "as well as a couple of other thing on the side"

Bailey gave him a crooked smile "And what might you be need them for"

"For a little project Professor Snape and I are working on" replied Drake with his own crooked look

"Professor Snape!" Bailey said astonished

"Yup" said Drake with pride leaking into his voice "I start apprenticing under him this year. He told me to buy some extra things as we will be maker a couple of the more rarer potions over the course of the semester"

"Well I wish you the best of luck" Bailey replied with a solemn face. "That man is a terror to behold"

Drake gave a laugh "He's not that bad" he said with amusement "More like…umm.. a grumpy cat."

"A grumpy cat! exclaimed Bailey "Don't let Professor Mcgonagall hear that, she'll take that as an insult to cats everywhere."

Drake gave another laugh and began rooting around in his pockets for the list of supplies Professor Snape gave him to buy. He found it in a folded up wad in his back pocket and handed it over to the shopkeeper.

"Alright now" said Bailey. He put on the glasses resting on the counter and gave the list a once over.

"Some of these items are going take a little while to prepare. Come back in an hour and I'll have the whole thing wrapped up and ready to go" said Bailey placing the list down and starting to fish around the shop for boxes.

"Sounds good" replied Drake as he began to exit the shop"I have some other things I need to pick up as well"

He opened the front door and exited the shop onto the street. Turning to the left, he than began making his way over to Flourish and Blotts, pausing occasionally to look a something a street vender was selling or at a display inside of a shop window. He gave a few greetings to fellow classmates stopping longer to talk with friends, asking how each other's summers were going. He eventually reached the book shop, the familiar sign of Flourish and Blotts written in large purple and gold letters hanging above the store. Drake pulled open the door handle and headed into the store. Stacks upon stacks of books met his eyes. He picked an aisle and began browsing the selection. Picking out a few noteworthy titles for some extra reading as well as his course load texts, he loaded up his arms and headed over the counter.

"That'll be 15 gallons." the young woman behind the counter said as she was shrinking the books down and placing them in a small wooden box. "Just dump them out and tap them with your wand to enlarge them"

"Thanks" replied Drake as he shoved the box into his jean pocket

"Anytime" drawled out with a seducing smile

Drake felt the redness of a blush forming on his cheeks as he hurriedly exited the shop. The sound of the woman giggling reached his ears and he closed the door. Being only 16, Drake was stuck in that awkward stage, unsure how to handle woman and to flirt vice versa. Having house elves as your go to for dating advice really didn't help the situation either.

As he was moving out onto the street, he someone yell "Gang way!" Drake felt two figures crash into the side of him knocking all three of them down sprawled up upon the alley floor.

"Blimey, It's Drake!"

"Drake old boy, how ya doing!"

"Better when you two idiots get off me!" replied Drake dazeley

He felt the two figure get off him and stand up, sending down a hand to help Drake up as well. He took the hand and was pulled up by none other than one of the Weasley Twins.

"Oh hey, what's up guys, hows your summer been?" Drake said while dusting himself off.

"Oh you know, this and that" replied Fred grinning

"Causing mayhem-"

"And mischief as well-

"Getting our pranks-

"Just about perfect" the finished in unison.

"How has your sum.." George was about to reply with until he was interrupted with shout "YOU!". Both twins instantly turned pale and turned around to the source of the voice to see a blue haired Ginny Weasley streaking down the alley with flames of anger and promised pain in her eyes.

"Oops, gotta run!" said the twins together hurriedly, unfortunately for them, not fast enough as nothing was going to stop Ginny Weasley on a warpath.

"Turn.. IT.. BACK NOW! Shouted Ginny as she grabbed ahold of her brothers.

"Ginny.. sister of ours.. it was just a little of fun.." replied one of the twins innocently

"A bit of fun!? replied Ginny heatedly "My hair is BLUE!"

"Ahhh don't worry, it'll change back in about an hour or two...hopefully" replied Fred whispering the last part to Drake.

Ginny then turned to Drake with a look and said

"And I bet you find this funny as well!" Drake gave an affronted look.

"I would never" he replied

The twins gave him a sour look.

"And to think we thought you our friend mate" said George shedding some fake tears

"I guess you don't really know a guy" replied George shaking his head

Drake broke out laughing at the looks on the twins faces, prompting them to smile as well. Ginny being the only one left who didn't seem to find any humor in the situation at all, being that the laugh was at her expense.

"You should come over and say hello to dear old mum" said Fred

"Yea, she hasn't seen you in forever" added George

"I've got some time" replied Drake shrugging

The group began making their way down the alley in the direction Ginny had come barreling from, who at this point, was still silently fuming and barking insults at anyone who dared to gave her a funny look. Their walk came to a close just as the rest of the Weasley family came walking out the second-hand robe shop.

"It's not that bad Ron" Drake heard a girl's voice say

"Not that bad!" groaned the boy "I look like a bloody fruit cake! How come Harry gets normal looking robes"

"Ronald!" explained "Language!" Ron flushed red and began to mumble to himself. turned and noticed the group walking up to them.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley" said Drake to the Weasley matriarch

"Drake dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley coming over to him "It's good to see you" she said while giving him a hug. Drake recipacted the smothering parental hug. While some people found the famous Weasley hug too overbearing, he found it enjoyable.

"Ahh Ginny, I see you found the boys" she said after finishing the hug. Ginny responding by grumbling something and then began talking with the other girl in the group.

"Drake dear, have you met Harry and Hermione before?" asked Mrs. Weasley. While Drake had heard of them, the whole school knew of the golden trio of Gryffindor, being a Ravenclaw and a different year met that he hadn't had more than a few words with the the trio over the years. He did on occasion though see Hermione studying in library, practically trying to sucking the knowlege dry out of textbooks

"No I haven't" replied Drake honestly

Mrs. Weasley brought the two forward. "This here is Hermione Granger and Harry Potter" she said while addressing them. Hermione was dressed similar to Drake, also in normal modern muggle clothes. Drake was surprised to see Harry though dressed in a grey muggle shirt that looked to be 10 sizes too big and torn jeans. He thought that with Harry being heir to a noble house such as the Potter's, he would be able to afford nicer clothes. While he knew that the Potters weren't as rich as the malfoys, they did have quite a bit of gallons. Drake glanced up to Harry's forehead, the famous lighting bolt scar barely visible under his messy hair. The brief cringe that was present on Harry's face due to the action also didn't escape his notice either.

"Hello" said Hermione with a smile "Its nice to meet you"

"Yea, nice to meet you" added Harry

"Drake Ainsworth" introduced Drake bring a hand forward and shaking both of theirs. "Its nice to make your acquaintance as well" He then noticed Hermione's face scrunch up as if trying to remember something.

"Aren't you Professor Snape's new apprentice for this year, I remember reading your name on a list posted outside of his classroom last semester"

"Apprentice!" interrupted Ron "Why would you want to spend more time with the greasy git!"

"Ronald!" exclaimed Hermione in a very Mrs. Weasley like tone of voice "You may not like him as a person but he is still a master brewer, he has loads of knowledge he could pass on, Drake is really lucky to get the chance!" said Hermione, her voice getting filled with increase enthusiasm as she went on. Harry was supporting a look similar to Ron

"Yea, I kind of agree with Ron, less time with him and Malfoy in potions the better. All he does is belittle us and give the Slytherins points". said sourly Harry. Ron nodding his head agreeing with Harry

Drake gave a laugh "That's because you guys don't know the trick with dealing with Professor Snape yet"

All three pairs of eyes snapped in his direction. "What's the trick" asked Ron eagerly

The twins were also giving him expecting eyes. "Having you been holding out on us as well mate" said Fred

Drake gave another laugh "It's quite simple really, just make the potions as best you can and don't be a dunderhead"

"Bahh" scoffed George "And being a potion progiety as yourself doesn't have anything to do with it"

"Well" replied Drake smirking "The Ainsworth family has always been master brewers"

All the student present seem to deflate with the knowledge there wasn't a trade secret to understanding the towering devil on earth known as their potions professor.

Mrs. Wesley joined back into the conversation at this point "As much as I would like the meet and greet to continue, we have a lot of other shopping we need to get done today, you are welcome to join us as well dear"

"Thanks for the offer Mrs. Wesley but I actually have a few things I need to get" replied Drake feeling a little bad at declining

"Oh well, maybe next time, it was good seeing you again dear, don't be a stranger and come visit" said Mrs. Wesley

"Yea mate" replied the twins

"Oh wait, I forgot!" exclaimed George "Are you going to the World Cup?"

"I wish" replied Drake "Unfortunately they sold out of tickets before I could get one" He had been planning on purchasing one but had kept putting it off thinking he had time. To his dismay, when he had remember he needed one, the tickets being sold to England had run out.

"Our dad won a bunch of them at a lottery drawing at work, would you want to come with us" asked Fred

"Blimily!" said Drake with a smile lighting up on his face "That'll be great, thanks!"

"Anything for our best mate and key into the Ravenclaw dorms" said George laughing

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that last part" said Mrs. Weasley "Chop chop kids, lets go"

The group gave him a last wave as they headed down the alley. Drake waved back and started to head towards Knockturn alley, one of the reason he didn't want the Weasley's to get tagging along with him on this trip. He had a feeling that Mrs. Weasley wouldn't approve of him heading down there. Before slipping down into the dark alley, Drake went into a corner and turned the ring on his right ring finger three times around. Almost instantly, his appearance changed. His clothes turned into a dark robe, his face became shrouded in a dark haze, with only his hazly blue eyes shining through. His ring was a family heirloom that all members of the Ainsworth family were given on their 15th birthday. Drake was given his through his parents will when he turned of age. Being that the Ainsworth family were prominent brewers, they on occasion needed to pertain ingredients of questionable legality. That's where the ring of the Nightingales came into play. It's creation a trade secret to his family and them alone.

Drake started his pace and swiftly walked down the alley with purpose and bearing of a pureblood to fit the image. A few hags glanced in his direction but with a stern look from Drake, they hurried looked away. He continued walking until he reached his intended destination, Borgin and Burkes. A dingy little scrapheap off to the side of the alley, the sign faded with time and weather. The windows stained dusty and dirty making it near impossible to clearly see inside the shop. Drake reached for the old wooden door handle and gave it a strong tug. It swung open with a loud creaking sound and he stepped inside.

"Who goes there" came a sleep voice out of the musty shop, Drake's eyes spent a couple of seconds getting used to the brighter lights in the shop then compared to the alley.

"It's me you old fart" said Drake letting his disguise fade away with a turn of his ring

"Ha!, that's no way to treat you employer boy" said Borgin sitting up in his chair behind the counter this head was just fast asleep on.

"Well, I just tell it how it is" said Drake with a smirk and humor in his eyes. Borgin just replied with a snort

"Bahh, you're only as old as you feel" he said "Anyway boy, what are you doing here, it's friday, you don't start work again to monday"

"I came to pick up a text I wanted as well as to let you know I won't be able to work next weekend, I'm going with some friends to the World Cup" said Drake as he began searching for the particular tome a customer had sold the shop earlier that week.

"Yea thats fine, no one will be shopping anyway. They'll be either be at the game or have their head glued to a radio." said Borgin with a wave of his hand

"Are you going to the game" asked Drake as he continued browsing accidently knocking over goblet but managing to catching it as it fell

"Be careful with that you dumb brat!" scolded Borgin "And to answer you question, no I will be promptly passed out drunk at Taff's Bar listening to the game with Burke"

"Haha, ahh yes, with your boyfriend" joked Drake as he picked up the object of his searching, an old leather bound with the title 'Fire and Darkness' "Reminds of tales I hear of old Dumbles and Grindelwald"

Borgin gave him a glare and slammed his hand on the counter

"He is not my boyfriend you isolate waste of space" yelled Borgin "He is my good friend and also your boss. Gods, why do I put up with your shit" Borgin said while shaking his head

"Because you seem me like your own son" Drake said dramatically while placing the tome on the counter "and because you are too old to do the cleaning and organizing of the shop" he added

"I should get an house elf" grumbled the old shop keeper. "That'll be 1 gallon and 10 knuts with your employing discount"

Drake reached into his pocket and pulled out the right amount and handed it over to Borgin. "Now get out of my shop with your stupidity" said Borgin and he began to head towards the back of the shop

"I love you too old man" replied Drake with a laugh as he dodged an old boot being tossed at his head. He gave his ring three turns and headed back out into the alley. The darkness hit his eyes and it took him a couple of moments to adjust to it. He went to few other shops and picked up a few of the more rarer borderline illegal potion ingredients. He had a couple of potions he wanted to experiment with this coming fall. As he was leaving the alley, he heard a soft crying coming from a corner of the entrance to the formidable alley. He dispelled his enchantment and to his surprise, saw a young girl no older than eight whimpering softly while crying and sitting on a cardboard box. She had blonde hair, her face wasn't visible as it was hard pressed into her hands. She was dressed in a light purple skirt, slightly crumped up from her attempts to wipe her face with. Putting on the friendliest and disarming look possible, he walked over and with a soft voiced ask "Hey there little miss, are you lost?"

The girl lifted her head up and replied with a puzzled choked voice between sobs

"Je ne sais pas anglais?"

Realizing that the little girl was french, he repeated himself again in her native language

" _Hey there, are you lost?"_ asked Drake kindly

" _Uh humm, I was walking with mama and my sister, I saw a pretty flower and wanted to give it to my big sister but when I turned around, they were gone"_ replied the young girl, continuing to sob as she reached the last part of her tale

" _I'm sorry, don't worry, I'll help you find them again, my name is Drake, what's yours?"_ asked Drake

" _M..My...My name is Gabrielle"_ the young girl now know as Gabrielle replied as she tried to wipe the tears out her eyes with the hem of her dress.

" _Gabrielle, that's a really pretty name, don't worry, we'll find them, how about we go get some ice cream first to cheer you up, that way while we are sitting down you can describe what they look like."_ said Drake taking her hand and helping her off the box

" _O..Ok.."_ said Gabrielle cheering up a little bit at the prospect of ice cream. Drake lifted her up and plopped her down on his shoulders. Gabrielle giggled, all previous sadness gone from her eyes as she was being lifted up high and getting to see over people. Drake walked over Florean Fortescue and got them both two big heaping bowls of chocolate ice cream. The both sat down at a table and Gabrielle began devouring the ice cream with enthusiasm only a 8 year old could have. Drake laughed as she had smeared some of it on her face trying to shove as much of the ice cream into her mouth with the speed of a cheetah. As they finished up their ice cream a shout of "Gabrielleee!" met their ears. Drake turned towards the street to see two of the most beautifully stunning women he had ever seen frantically searching the street calling out Gabrielle's name.

With the beginning of tears forming on her face, Gabrielle shouted "MAMA!" and leapt up out of her chair and ran over to them. Both of the woman's head turned faster than humanly possible to her cry and ran over to the sound of her voice, immediately hugging her with the beginning of tears forming on their faces.

Drake got up from his chair and began walking over to them as well. As he neared closer, he noticed the two woman to be a splitting image of each other. If not for Gabrielle telling him earlier, he would have mistaken them for sisters. Each of them had golden locks of silvery blond hair. Heart shaped faces with almost elf-like angles. Clearest blue eyes Drake had ever seen, almost like gazing into a sea of emotion and turbulence. They had the hourglass figure that any woman would kill for, curves in all the right places. Drake's mouth was ridden dry and he had to fight to control the blush forming on his face.

" _Gabrielle!, where were you!?"_ scolded the elder looking female

" _Mama, I wanted to pick a flower for Fleur but I couldn't find you again"_ choked out the young girl

" _We were so worried, I turned around and you had disappeared"_ said the younger woman still hugging Gabrielle

'Probably Fleur' thought Drake

" _I'm alright now Mama, that nice man found me and bought me ice cream and was gonna help me find you"_ said Gabrielle

At this point, the two older women realised there was someone else at their little family gathering. They turned to see Drake off to the side standing awkwardly and still trying to fight a blush. The younger woman walked up to him and gave him an emotionally filled hug. Pulling away,she said

"Thank 'ou for zaving Gabrielle" said Fleur, happiness and adoration prevalent in her eyes towards the man that had found her beloved little sister.

" _It was nothing, anyone would have done the same thing in that situation"_ he replied shyly in French

" _Modest and he speaks our native tongue as well, fate was very kind to us on this day"_ said Fleur with a laugh inciting another blush from Drake

" _What is your name young man"_ said the eldest woman kindly

" _My name is Drake Ainsworth Madame"_ said Drake, trying to be as polite as possible

" _It is nice to be able to meet Gabrielle's savior, name is Apolline delacour, this is my daughter Fleur, and you have already met Gabrielle"_ replied the woman with a smile

" _Its nice to meet you Madame"_ said Drake politely

" _Please call me Apolline dear, I must insist"_ replied Apolline as Fleur and Gabrielle stood smiling next to her

Drake rubbed the back of his neck in an awkward sort of manner " _All right...Mada...Apolline"_ said Drake, ears turning a little red.

" _Haha, he's quite cute when he's flustered_ " said Fleur with mirth in her eyes, Gabrielle standing next to her smiling back and forth between the two. This brought on a full blush onto Drake's face as he stumbled for a reply.

" _He sure is and quite handsome as well"_ said Apolline with laughter giving him a once over " _Would you happen to be free to come out to lunch with us this afternoon, buying a meal for our little Gabrielle's savior is the least we can do"_

At this point, Drake had managed to control his emotions and give a reply.

" _I would to love Apolline but unfortunately I have other things on my list purchase"_ said Drake with honesty disappointment present in his voice. Drake missed the look of sadness pass over Fleur's face but in an instant, it changed to hopefulness.

" _Is there an address we can write to you with, maybe we can have you over later this week for dinner?" she_ asked with hopefulness and a little apprehension

" _That would sound great, I do believe I am free this week"_ said Drake with a smile. He pulled out a piece of scrap paper from his Ice cream recite and wrote down his address and handed to Fleur, feeling a bit of warmth as their hand touched. Both of them breaking away with a small blush inciting a laugh from Apolline and giggle from Gabrielle.

" _It was very nice to meet you Drake and again, thank you for finding Gabrielle"_ said Apolline as all three woman walked over and gave a hug to Drake and heading back down the Alley. Drake felt himself rooted to the spot for a couple of seconds, the smile on his face refusing to leave. With a shake of his head, he starting walking and finished up with his shopping. He grabbed some lunch from one of the small restaurants in the Alley and then headed over to the apothecary to grab his box of ingredients. With all his shopping done, he head over towards the Floo station and with a puff of green flames, headed back home.

 **Hello there readers, it is I, the author, thanks so much for the people who favorited and subscribed to this story. Its people like you who proivde the moto for stories. I think Im starting to get the hang of this writing thing, hopefully it will improve with time, please review, its help with providing ideas and story fixes. Stay Frosty mi amigos**


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